Books may well be the only true magic. — Alice Hoffman

Category Archives: Summer Reads

“Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list.

Short on time to find evidence proving the killer’s identity, things get even more complicated for Stephanie when family and friends decide it’s time for her to decide between long-time off-again-on-again boyfriend, Trenton cop, Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert, Ranger. Stephanie’s mom is encouraging Stephanie to dump them both, and choose a former high school football star who has just returned to town. Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, is encouraging Stephanie to have a red-hot boudoir “bake-off”. And Grandma Bella, Morelli’s old world grandmother, is encouraging Stephanie to move to a new state when she puts “the eye” on Stephanie.

With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of hot men and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior citizen vampire, Stephanie’s life looks like it’s about to go up in smoke.”

Check out evanovich.com to read an excerpt from the book, get a free bookplate, and take a look at Janet’s tour schedule to see if she’s coming to a bookstore near you.

Haven’t read the Stephanie Plum series? What are you waiting for, check them out!

One for the Money
Two for the Dough
Three to Get Deadly
Four to Score
High Five
Hot Six
Seven Up
Hard Eight
Visions of Sugar Plums
To the Nines
Ten Big Ones
Eleven on Top
Twelve Sharp
Plum Lovin’
Lean Mean Thirteen
Plum Lucky
Fearless Fourteen
Plum Spooky
Finger Lickin’ Fifteen
Sizzling Sixteen
Smokin’ Seventeen

“On the frontlines of the battle of the bulge, otherwise known as trying on bathing suits in the communal dressing room at Loehmann’s, freelance writer Jaine Austen makes a new friend-a wannabe actress named Pam-and gets a new job: sprucing up Pam’s bare-bones resume. Their feeling of connection is mutual, so Pam invites Jaine to join The PMS Club-a women’s support group that meets once a week over guacamole and margaritas.

But joining the club proves to be more a curse than a blessing for Jaine. Though she is warned that Rochelle, the hostess, makes a guacamole to die for, Jaine never takes the warning literally. Until another PMS member, Marybeth, drops dead over a mouthful of the green stuff after confessing she is having an affair with Rochelle’s husband.

While Rochelle and her husband are the obvious suspects, everyone at that night’s meeting is under suspicion, including Jaine. So, instead of dishing dirt with The PMS Club, Jaine has to dig up dirt on the surviving members. And soon it becomes clear: someone in this club thinks getting away with murder should be a privilege of membership…”

A fast, fun read. As with the other Jaine Austen books, I had no idea who did it until Jaine did. I love that! Usually I figure out whodunit way before the hero/heroine so it’s kind of like, come on, catch up with me, so and so did it! But not with this series! Great beach/pool reads.

“Wisecracking pen-for-hire Jaine Austen is back and she’s about to discover that working on the set of a Hollywood sitcom is no laughing matter.

Jaine still hasn’t found a good man or a way to keep all those sugary snacks from going straight to her hips. But with a little help from her best friend Kandi she’s finally landed a gig as a sitcom writer! True, Muffy’n Me (aka Bewitched with Tits ) isn’t going to win any Emmys. And her office at Miracle Studios needs a little sprucing up, and a few dozen rat traps. But it sure beats writing boring brochures and bad resumes, so Jaine’s not complaining. Until the plot thickens with murder.

Jaine figures the trouble all started when Muffy’n Me’s hottest star, gorgeous Quinn Kirkland, seduced the head writer whose husband also works on the show. But when Quinn is caught in bed with the barely-legal actress who plays his niece, things really heat up and his many jealous girlfriends start to figure things out.

So when the no-good heartthrob drops dead after nibbling a poisoned doughnut, Jaine isn’t terribly surprised. But who could have done it? A competitive co-star and a couple of scorned lovers top Jaine s list of suspects, but the police have zeroed in on her man-crazy pal Kandi. She fell hard for Quinn and nearly fell apart when she learned of all his other women. Now Jaine has to figure out who finally stopped Quinn’s cheatin’ heart before her best friend ends up behind bars.”

The second installment in the chick-lit Jaine Austen mystery series, this book was fast paced and funny. I love Jaine’s sarcastic sense of humor, the way she talks to the readers, and the way she lets her cat (Prozac is the best cat name ever!) run her life. When I figured out whodunit, I was completely shocked. Levine writes a good mystery. They are funny, fast paced, and have enough suspects that you’ll never know who’s guilty until the very end. This is a series that I would re-read. I got them all from the library this go around, but I’ll probably end up owning them so I can read them again.

“Jaine Austen is a hip, jack-of-all-trades writer who spends her days penning steamy personal ads. No one needs her help more than geeky Howard Murdoch, whom Jaine successfully sets up on a date. All goes well until Valentine’s Day, when Howard finds his new love has been bludgeoned to death.”

This is the first installment in the Jaine Austen mystery series by Laura Levine. When we first meet Jaine she’s doing some freelance personal ads. Howard hires Jaine to write a letter to his crush, a women he knows from his gym. She agrees to a date with Howard but when he arrives to pick her up he finds her dead instead.

Next thing Jaine knows, Howard has been arrested for the murder. Jaine knows there is no way timid and shy Howard could have done such a thing and she feels guilty for writing the letter that put him in Stacy’s apartment so she decides to help Howard out.

Jaine’s first outing as a private investigator is full of twists and turns. She has to think fast on her feet and try to keep herself out of trouble. And, keep herself alive!

This book had me totally hooked on the series. I accidentally read the third book first, not realizing it was part of a series, so I requested “This Pen…” from the library. Levine has created a wonderful character with Jaine, the possibilities of adventures for her are endless and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

“When school psychologist Skye Denison discovers a body crushed by a toppled bookcase in Scumble River’s new bookstore, she has to read the clues before she becomes the killer’s next work-in-progress…”

The Scumble River Mystery series is a fun series to read. The books are pretty short and they are fast and funny reads. School psychologist Skye Denison gets into all kinds of trouble when she plays around as an amateur investigator in each book. The mysteries are full of twists, turns and surprises and there are always plenty of suspects to choose from. I almost never know for sure whodunit until fairly close to the end. The whole series makes for excellent pool or beach reads for the summer.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.”

Okay. I love this book. Seriously. It was so good. Beyond un-put-down-able. I laughed out loud, I cried, I cringed, I loved every single syllable of every single word typed on every single page. I’m both looking forward to and dreading the release of the film this August. So, read it. Get it from your library, pick it up at the bookstore (it’s now out in paperback), listen to it on audio; doesn’t matter, just read it.